Asian shares mostly fell on Thursday.

South Korea’s Kospi dropped 6.6%.

The Bank of Korea raised interest rates for the first time since 2023.

It did this to control inflation linked to the Iran war.

Memory chipmaker SK Hynix fell 11.2%.

Samsung Electronics dropped 8.2%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.9%.

Japanese chipmaker Kioxia plunged 13.5%.

Tokyo Electron lost 5.2%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.7%.

Alibaba shares rose 4.4% after China approved Apple Intelligence for use.

The Shanghai Composite fell 0.9%.

Oil prices slipped but stayed high.

Brent crude dropped 0.4% to $84.55 a barrel.

That is up from about $72 in late February.

ING strategists said oil gained for a third day.

They said there are no signs of U.S.-Iran de-escalation.

They noted that rising tensions affect vessel flows from the Persian Gulf.

U.S. futures edged higher.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4%.

BlackRock shares gained 6.6% after strong quarterly results.

The dollar fell to 162.09 yen.